Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Everything the Pittsburgh Penguins did on Trade Deadline Day!

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins made a flurry of moves during the NHL Trade Deadline and a lot of them brought back even more draft picks to Pittsburgh. Hunter and Patrick take the first two segments of the show to discuss how Kyle Dubas is putting an emphasis on getting draft picks into the system. Will he use all of them or will he flip some to get some younger talent? They give their thoughts on the Anthony Beauvillier trade before discussing the Luke Schenn flip, and finally the Cody Glass trade before the Toronto trade broke WHILE recording. They give their thoughts on what the Penguins are getting in Connor Dewar and Connor Timmins before discussing if not moving Rakell or Grzelcyk was the right call. Finally, they get you set for two games against Western Conference teams this weekend.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager, Kyle Dubus, was especially busy on trade deadline day on Friday. Pat and I are going to recap everything he did, plus get you all set for the two Penguins games this upcoming weekend right after this. You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter. at Huns or Hodes. Joined by my co-st, Patrick Damping, and follow him on all social media platforms at

Cendron for Wet. And you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. Ornestore Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, this episode is brought to you by Fandul right now. New Fandul customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So, Pat, we were supposed to go around 3 or 3.30 today, but Kyle,

Dubus decided to make a couple more trades. That's why this got pushed back to right around 530. He still hasn't even spoken in Cranberry yet just because of how backed up the league is right now. I guess some unpaid intern is just handling the phones of the NHL Central Registry. I don't know, man. It's just taken forever to finalize all of these deals. I mean, I was going to go with. I think the NHL at this point is operating on AOL 4.0, dial up internet and rotary phones

because it's 2025. and you're telling me that your central registries backlogged, I know that the salary caps going up and I know that a lot of teams are making moves, but you don't have like a switchboard or a bunch of people work in the phones. As for the GMs, you all got massive staffs. Like, it's not like you have to be in the room to do it. So I don't know, but whatever. We'll do our best with what we got.

Most of the trades that the penguins have made today have been confirmed. and the big ones worth talking about are confirmed. So we can work with that. Well, let's start with one of them. The penguin started the day by trading forward Anthony Bivillier to the Washington Capitals for a 2025 second round pick. This market's ridiculous. I did not for a single second think Anthony Bovillier of all players was going to

fetch a second round pick. But that's what this market is, man. This was the biggest seller's market in quite a long time. prices were absurd. And the fact that the Penguins got back a second rounder for someone who had 13 goals, masterful work with that from Kyle Dubus. I wish Anthony Williier the best. He recouped up his value a little bit.

I hope he does well in Washington, just not against the Penguins in the final game of the regular season. But with that trade, Pat, really good stuff to start out today. That's a very savvy move by Kyle Dubus. And I had a friend of mine that I used to work with when I was working in the H.L. He's a Washington Capitals fan. And he asked me about Bavillier and I said, this is exactly what you guys were missing.

This, I still think, and we're not going to talk about the NHL as a whole today like we did yesterday. But, you know, I think this helps the capitals put their names more in the conversation as contenders in the East because they were a little top heavy. They were getting a lot of scoring from the top of their lineup and not as much from their bottom six. Anthony Bavillier helps out your bottom six. like you said, it's got 13 goals this year. He's shown he can play with a higher end talent, which we know that the capitals have in a pinch. So to get a second rounder for that tells us it's an absolute seller's market.

And it's a mutually beneficial trade. The caps are back in to go for it mode. They did a very good job of rebuilding their prospect pipeline over the past couple of years. So parting with a second round pick this summer isn't going to hurt them. And it gets them a piece that they've been missing. 100% and after that Dubus was not done. We kind of hinted that this could still happen

even though Dubus and Mike Sullivan really talked up Luke Chen. They were saying like, oh, he's going to bring that toughness that we like, that bite, he's going to be physical, he's going to stand up for our teammates. He's going to be,

he's going to have all that spirit and all that stuff. Well, it's a little bit of posturing there because Luke Shen comes to the penguins and he's like, eh, I don't really want to play here. Can you maybe send me to a contender?

And I know some people are going to be a bit weirded out about that. like oh, Luke Shen, how could you say that of all people? Guys, he wants to go win a Stanley Cup. You know, he's a bit older now. I'm totally fine with it. And the Penguins got back a second round pick and a fourth round pick for Luke Shen. Barry Trots is very bad at this in Nashville, if you guys don't know by now.

He attached Luke Shen in that deal with Tommy Novak. And then the Penguins are like, okay, thank you for giving us him. We're now going to flip him to the Winnipeg Jets who needed another depth defenseman to me. opinion. I thought they made some sense for Matt Grizzling. But we're going to send him to the Jets for a second and a fourth. Really great asset management once again from Kyle Dubus. And hey, I wish Luke Shen the best. That tribute video, man, is going to be legendary. Yeah, what a, what an absolutely great career for Shen in a penguin's uniform. I'll never forget it. It'll always be right here in my heart. Thank you for all that you did for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mr.

Shen. But yeah, you get a second round pick and what's going to be a very stacked 2026. They'll draft. Then you get a fourth in 2027. So another good bit of business for Dubus, especially for where this plan is going, once he wants this plan to go. Excuse me. And I mean, like you said, I have no idea what Barry Trots is doing in Nashville at this point. You essentially gave up a valuable asset that you could have flipped to help your team in the now or in the

future to another team and then they just turned right around and used that asset to help themselves. So that's a extremely puzzling move. And I'll just say this, for as long as Barry Trots remains in the general manager's chair in Nashville and Kyle Dubis remains as the Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager, go on and keep calling him, Kyle. Just anytime you need something, give old Barry a call because apparently you just apparently you just know how to fleece him.

Yeah, he was a much better coach than he is now a GM. And speaking of that, I mean, the Penguins turned Michael Bunting, Pat, Anthony Bavillier, Vinny DeHarnay into Tommy Novak, two seconds, a fourth and a fifth. And I'll throw in Luke Shen there as well. Bunting, Bovillier, Luke Shen, and Vinny Day Arnais for Tommy Novak, two second round picks, a fourth round pick, and a fifth round pick. that is outstanding asset management once again from Kyle Dubus. And that also leads into this other trade that just got announced.

We're waiting for the Toronto, Boston, Pittsburgh trade to get announced. We're hoping that gets announced while we're recording just because, again, the NHL Central Registry is so backed up right now. And the Penguins, they just traded Cody Glass and Jonathan Gruden to the New Jersey Devils for Chase Stillman, Max Graham, and a 2027 third round pick. And again, speaking of. Barry Trots. Remember with the Cody Glass original trade, he literally attached a third and a sixth round pick for the penguins to take Cody Glass off of their hands. And now the penguins are

trading Cody Glass and Gruden to the Devils and they're getting an extra third round pick in return. For the five million time in five minutes, Barry Trots is not good at this, my friend. Yeah. And I mean, I'll say this much. I think for that, and again, I'm not backing off my stance that Barry Trots is bad at this. I remain thinking that. But if you look at that trade in the context of the time, they needed salary cap relief because of everything they did, they still looked like they were going to be a good team. It obviously has not worked out. But when you put the totality of the moves from Barry Trots together, it's not a very good body of work. But at the time, you can understand that. But again, the penguins in Kyle Dubus are doing the smart thing. They're

targeting teams that need to shed cap. They're targeting teams that need to shed younger players, whether it's for rentals or you name it. They're going after those teams. And that is what you have to do at this moment. And when you look at the now the completed glass trade, the penguins will now have 31 picks over the next three drafts. Four of them are first round picks. And then they will have 18 in total over the first three rounds over the next three drafts. So there's, as we have been talking about on this show, a lot of different directions that you can go here. You can take the simple route and you just got a ton of picks and you can really start

to see what you have in your system. You can package those picks to make larger moves, whether it's to get a younger player, a prospect, whatever. So at this point, the penguins really have a good kind of choose your own adventure plan at this point because between a rising salary cap, a somewhat restocked prospect pool and 31 draft picks over the next three years, they can go a lot of different ways. And it can be trades, it can be draft, it can be signings because we know that everybody they want to have locked up. for the most part, is locked up. So the salary cap's going to go up and no big deals are coming off the books. You've got a bunch of draft picks.

You've got some intriguing prospects. So Kyle Dubus, whether it was purposeful, whether it was just a good stroke of luck, he is doing a pretty good job setting this team up to avoid some real painful times. Right. And I do think the next step in this process will be moving some of those picks and maybe a prospect or two to try and go get younger players who are ready to play right now. Like I don't think you're going to use all these picks on players in all of these initial drafts, whether it's this year, next year, or the year after.

I think personally they're going to package some of those picks, obviously not all of them, but they're going to package some of them maybe with a prospect or two to try and go get younger players to really speed this thing up because, in my opinion, I think they're going to start really trying to potentially get back to the playoffs during the 26-27 season. Like I think that's their goal right now. I think next season you're going to maybe see something similar to this one right now. And as for going for a NHL ready impact young player, the thing to keep in mind here is that over the next three drafts,

they've got seven picks in the third round. So I think that like when you see some of these moves on the edges for prospects and guys that might not be getting the chance. elsewhere, you might see those third round picks come into play. I would, it would have to be an obscenely good trade for an obscenely good player to move any of those first round picks. And when you've got six second round picks over the next three years, maybe you can move one of those out or two of those out to get a younger player.

But the fact that they have a bunch of picks between the third and seventh round over the next three years, I highly doubt all of those get used. 100%. It's got to make sense. You've got to get the right player in this situation. But I think they're going to at some point. You just, again, you got to get it right. That's the main thing.

And as for Cody Glass, I wish him the best in New Jersey. It felt like at times he was really starting to be consistent, but then he'd have a bunch of games in a row where it's like he goes back to being inconsistent. I like how he played defensively. He was generating chances, but felt like a bunch of. of players in this lineup. He just wasn't able to really finish his chances, but I still wish him the best going forward in New Jersey. As for the two players they got back in this deal, both Chase Stilman and Max Graham. Stilman was a first round pick in the 2021 NHL. This year in the

AHA, well, not last year, I said. Last year, 14 goals, 24 points in 54 games in AHL. This year, though, only three goals, nine points in 46 games. And then for Max Graham, he was a fifth round pick in the 24 NHL draft. He's in the WHL this year. 13 goals, 35 points in 34 games, has not played in the AHL yet, but seems like that's the next step. Two little flyers on these guys. Just hope they keep developing, of course. For sure. And if there's one thing I have been long an advocate of, I think that we need to take a look at the 2020 in 2021 NHL drafts a little differently because those were both deep in the midst of the pandemic. There was a lot of league shut down or leagues playing weird schedules.

And I think a lot of players from those two drafts are going to take a little bit longer to hit just because their development got stunted at some point. So I don't want to oversell that like, oh, they got their next big superstar here. But there's a world where if you give him a year or two or three to really get his legs under him in professional hockey. He could become something of an NHL player. But again, you gave up a guy who you took a chance on, didn't really seem to totally work out.

You got a pick. You got two guys you can take flyers on. And if they don't work out, no big deal. You can flip them for something else. Or whenever their contracts expire, you can wish them all the best in their future endeavors. 100% man. And, you know, we're still waiting the official confirmation on the big Boston, Toronto,

Brandon Carlo, Tray, Pittsburgh is coming. in there reportedly acquiring forward Connor Dewar and defenseman Connor Timmons. We'll discuss that a little bit more in the second segment and we'll also discuss it looks like Penguins not trading Matt Grizzlic and then officially holding on to Ricardo Hill. We'll give our thoughts on those two situations before getting you all set for tonight's game against Vegas and Sunday's game against the Minnesota wild. But before we do that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor and that is

Fandle. When the game tips off, the NBA action is just getting started and there's no better place to to get it on the action, then Fandall, America's number one sportsbook with Fandall. You can place live bets throughout the game. So even if you miss the opening tip off or want to bet on a fourth quarter comeback, you can stay in on the action. And if you are looking for a bigger payout, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay.

I love using Fandall's live betting feature because it keeps every moment of the game exciting, whether I'm backing my team for a late King Rally or picking a player to hit a clutch three. I never feel like I missed my chance. Plus, the app is very easy to use, and when you win, you get paid instantly. Right now, new Fandual customers can get $150 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins, just visit fandul.com to join today. That's Fandul.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more of Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA.

All right, back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, I'm Hunter Hodes. That's Patrick Damp. So, Pat, I figured we'll start with the two players who at least are remaining. as Penguins. We'll start with the Ricard Raquel situation because I still want to give it a little bit of time for this massive Boston-Torno-Pittsburgh deal to be finalized, but we'll talk about Connor Timmons and Connor Dewar a little bit later on in the show. But Ricard Raquel, I see both sides to it. You know, I've had, I've said my opinion on this throughout the week. You said your opinion. I understand what other people are saying like, oh, why did you hold on to him?

You should have done it now. His value is not going to be higher. But in my opinion, I still think you're going to be able to do pretty well over the summer. For example, there are going to be teams out there that miss out on some of the big name free agents. After that, they're going to go to the trade market and they're going to look at, okay, who can we get that can really score. You know, Ricardo Raquel, he's on pace to beat his career high in goals of 3045 away from tying it, six away from breaking it. He has 29 right now. Even at 5 million, especially with a rising salary cap, I think you will still be able to go out there and get a good return. I understand. that people are saying, like, it might not be that high because he's coming off for

queer season. Is he going to be able to do that again? I get it. I really do. But I still think you are going to be able to get a fairly solid return for him. And also, I applaud Kyle Dubas for sticking to an asking price and not budging from it. Like, we don't fully know what the price is. You know, some teams may have been like, hey, like, we're interested, but we're not willing to pay that price.

And honestly, I'm fine with. that. I don't want to just deal a player like that for the sake of dealing him. That's a trade to me that you have to get right. Like, yeah, we really have appreciated Kyle Dubus's work a lot today for getting a lot of those picks and getting out from some players who have been just, you know, kind of man this year like glass, but Movillet at least netted a second round pick and all that stuff. But the Raquel trade, you've got to get that right. So I'm not interested in doing it for the sake of doing it. Like, they're probably going to deal him over the summer. Like, I don't think he's going to be on the team next season just because with the way that they're

transitioning with with this rebuild on the fly. But I would rather get a really good return that's right than just rush it for the sake of rushing it. I think that's where I'm at. Yeah. I mean, the thing was we talked about it in the first segment. The market today was absolutely absurd. Yeah. But at the same time, this is the penguin's single best asset to trade. And there would have, it would have been very easy for Kyle Dubus to come down and say, all right, I wanted X, Y, Z, but I can take X and Y and forget about Z. Where this team is and where it wants to go, he's not in a position to do that. This isn't a team that has a, a bunch of blue chip prospects.

It's not a team that has a young superstar and waiting. It's a team that really needs to get this right and thread this needle correctly. And I know that people are worried that, oh, his value's never going to be higher. I want to push back on that. I haven't seen him slow down since the Four Nations break. He has continued to be consistent this season. And nothing he has done since has shown me that a slowdown is coming. Next year it might because Father Time is undefeated in pro sports.

It's the only entity that's never been handed an L in sports. Father Time always wins. But again, you brought this up and I'll add to it. Along with teams who are going to miss out on Big Free Agents over the summer, there's going to be teams this very spring, this Stanley Cup playoff, who go into it with Silver Chalice Dreams. They think they are the team that is going to ride all the way through four rounds, get 16 wins and hoist the Stanley Cup.

Only one team is going to do that. And I guarantee you there will be one, two, three, maybe even more teams who get a disappointing first round, second round, or third round exit, and think, man, if we could have just got a couple more goals, we'd be right there. And they'll go pay for a Ricard Raquel. Yeah, because you parlay that, since we just did a fandole ad, you parlay that with, there are teams who are going to look to get scoring this summer with a rising salary cap, you know, a good few UFAs on the market.

They're not going to want to pay seven, eight, nine, more million dollars for six, seven, eight years. when you can go get Ricard Raquel at 5 million for only three more years. So I think along with him not slowing down this year and the fact that he is going to make the kind of money that a 15 and 20 goal score is probably going to make in a couple of years is going to make him just as attractive this summer. 100%. Again, he's probably going to finish this season with 35 to 40 goals, especially with the way that he has produced throughout the year. Teams will want to pay up for that. Yes, people, I know. The free agent market, at least some of the big guns this year, it's a bit better compared to recent years. The trade market is also going to be fairly fascinating. You have some RFAs where you could see offer sheeted as well. But Ricard Raquel will be up there in the trade market as a player that I feel like a lot of teams will look to go after.

I'm not trying to be, you know, dumb about it, just giving my opinion. But I think that there's still going to be a fairly good market for him this summer, where Kyle Dupes company can do fairly well in this trade. Also, you know, I'm sure Sid is pretty happy as well that Ricardo Rakel is not getting dealt as well. Again, it's way more important to get this right than just doing it for the sake of doing it. And then this leads me to Matt Grislick. This is the one I got to admit, Pat. I'm a little disappointed about. I'm not really sure how he didn't get moved during this deadline pending UFA, having a really good counting stat season, at least a good power play two quarterback. I know he hasn't been as good defensively, but I surely figured a team was going to take

the chance on him. Yeah, I'm kind of puzzled by it too. I think if you look at it in a vacuum that they didn't move him, it's a bit of a failure because he's 31, he's got 30 points. He's been very good on the power play. He has stabilized. since a rough first couple of weeks. But I also look at it this way.

I think that there is a very big value now more often than not in the NHL, whether you want to believe it, like it, hate it, whatever, on youth. And I think they saw a 31-year-old defenseman on an expiring contract with just 30 points and kind of went, eh, we don't need him. I imagine this is probably not comparing the trades people, so don't come at me in the comments for that. I look at it like the Ricard Raquel trade. I think Kyle Dubus had a price.

He didn't want to come off it. And he just went, whatever, it doesn't matter if we hold on to him for a couple more weeks and he goes and gets paid elsewhere. It would have been nice to get something out of him. but you already turned Bavillier into a second. You were able to flip Luke Shen after barely using him and you didn't give up a whole ton to get him as it was. So the totality of his work today, very solid.

I would have liked to see Grizzlic traded, but I can live with him remaining on the roster. I don't think it's going to make or break this plan. He'll also not resign after the season. I think he'll just go to another team on a one or two-year dealer. something like that. But Dubus also just spoke about Ricardo Raquel. He finally is speaking right now as we're recording this. And he said about Raquel, he's a big part of our program. You don't just push that out the door. So basically, he's saying without fully saying it, yeah, I had a high price and I'm not just

going to push him out the door for the sake of it. And also, Pat, this leads us to the final trade of the day, which will be announced very shortly. Dubas says the penguin sent a fifth rounder to the Leafs to get Connor Timmons and Connor Dewar. So speaking of those two players, Connor Dewer, he's played in 31 games for the Maple Leafs this season. No goals. Three assists in 31 games. His best season came, well, goal scoring wise. Last season with the Wild, 10 goals, 14 points. And then he also played with the Wilde in 22, 23. He had six goals, 18 points in 81 games. He's kind of a defensive specialist at this point in the NHL. Really good defensive metrics just doesn't bring a lot of offense. And then for Connor Timmins, he's someone that

complaining or bottom hearing. I would not be surprised if Mike Sullivan and company really wanted him to play on the right side on that third pairing with Koyochana. So I think that will be a really fun third pairing to young defensemen, seeing how they mesh together. That's what I would do. Like I would keep scratching Ryan Graves. Like I feel like you know what you have in him at this point. Luke Shen obviously went to Winnipeg.

You know, you have P.O. Joseph coming back from injury at some point. Ryan, Shay, Chris LaTang, Eric Carlson, you didn't move Grizzlick, of course. So if I am the Penguins, I run Koliachan and Connor Timmons. on that third pairing. I know some people are going to be like, why did you kind of help out the Leafs there and stuff like that? People, these are two RFAs at the end of the season. They are warm bodies at least,

and they're going to see what they have and then for the rest of the year. Their RFAs, it's totally fine to me. I said it today on Blue Sky during all of the frenzies. The process that the penguins are in right now and the way they're working over the next couple years, they're not trying to win. They're not trying to win a Stanley Cup. So that means over the next couple of years, they're going to be a handful of players that come in,

and your first reaction is going to be that guy? And the answer to that is they're not trying to win. It's a warm body. And if they qualify them when they become RFA's, it's not like they're going to have to break the bank to keep them. If they walk, no big deal. So Colorado or Colorado, the Maple Leafs, excuse me, we're also just on a Western swing with Vegas and Colorado.

So those guys were right there. You can bring them up to Vegas for tonight's game. And then you can put them on the plane and they go to Minnesota on Sunday. So rather than having to play with a shortened roster tonight and then maybe on Sunday, depending on who gets called up. And if they can make it to Minnesota in time, you have players. And again, this is going to be part of the process.

There's going to be players who aren't going to move the needle that aren't going to be big names, but they are going to exist on a roster while this team works to develop and draft prospects. And I think another part of it is that while I know some people are going to be upset about it, I think Kyle Dubus and company are really valuing what the players in Wilkesperi are doing. And I don't think they want to mess up that chemistry. Like, yeah, I want them to recall Covenant. And I want them to bring up McGority because I think that it would be good for them to see some NHL time down the stretcher because the penguins aren't to make the playoffs. But I also at the same time understand the plan of what they're doing is that they want to have them play meaningful games,

especially since Wilkesbury is playing for a quarter cup. You know, same thing with Owen Pickering, for example. So I get it to that degree as well. But yeah, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if both Timmons and do her play tonight, just because that's a short plane ride to Las Vegas. And speaking of Las Vegas, Pat, we do have a game to preview tonight. We just spent 28 minutes talking about all these trades. We still got to preview this game against the Vegas Golden Knights and preview that game on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild.

So don't go anywhere. Those previews are coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-O-Dap. So, Pat, Penguins will play one of the best teams, not just in the Western Conference, but in the entire NHL tonight in the Vegas Golden Knights.

the last late night start time. No people, there is no excuse. Come on. Late night hockey, crack open a beverage, have a cup of coffee, have some tea, something like that. Come on, 10 o'clock start time. It's still going to be a lot of fun. I want to go to a game in Vegas so bad just because it's such a spectacle at T-Mobile

Arena. But this Vegas team still very good. And I got to say, man, I am stunned. They didn't do anything big today. Usually that front office works in the shadows. They have an owner who loves to win. I'm surprised they didn't. do anything big today just because of how all in they are usually every year.

But this lineup is still very good. Jack Eichael on their top line with Mark Stone, Brandon Sawd on their second line with Tomash Hurdle. They have Ivan Barbishev on their third line. They just reacquired Riley Smith, who's very happy to be back. So if you are a betting person, you might want to bet on Riley Smith anytime goal scored tonight just because former penguins love scoring on penguins in the defensively. They got Petrangelo still.

Noah Hannifin in goal, of course. they have Aden Hill, Elias Samsonoff. They still have Shea Theodore is a bit banged up. William Carlson's a bit banged up. But this is going to be a fairly tough game for them to win. And considering how deep Vegas is, how much high-end talent they have. They're all gas, no breaks. They come at you in waves.

And it's going to be tough for the penguins to withstand that for a full 60 minutes. Vegas is that good. It's a great team. And real quick, just a personal story. You said you want to go see a game in Vegas. So do I. Yeah. When I used to work in the ECHL, the ECHL League meetings every summer, at least when I was working there, I'm sure they still are.

And why would you change a good thing? We're always in Las Vegas. And I would always get to go out to Vegas for the league meetings. And the year before the Vegas Golden Knights came into the league and they were putting the finishing touches on Team Mobile Arena, we got to take a tour of it. And before it was even 100% finished, you could already tell this place was going to be a spectacle. it was going to be incredible. So I would love to be there to see a game. But to the actual team, I mean, you look at this roster.

They've got six players who have 40 points or more. This is a team that knows how to put up points. They are very deep. They've got good enough goal tending. They didn't really have to make any big splashes today. I know that they love to. It's their calling card. But this is still one of the better teams in the NHL's Western Conference.

They're atop of the Pacific Division. They've got a four-point lead on Edmonton. They are, I would say if my math is correct, which is always a question mark third in the Western conference in total. So once again, when you talk about contenders in the NHL, Vegas Golden Knights are right there. Penguins are going to have to put together one of those rare games that they like to play where they decide to be responsible defensively and take advantage of the chances that they do get. I love that you said that because that's where I was going to go. It's got to be like the LA game earlier this season where they just clamp down in their own zone. They finished all their chances and they got the goaltending.

It's fun when the blueprint has come out a few times this season. It's going to really need to come out tonight if you want to beat this very, and I mean very good Vegas Golden Knights team. After that, they'll play the Minnesota Wilde, who are in third place in the Central Division right now, 36 and 22 and 4. They are eight points behind the Dallas Stars for second place. And by the way, the Dallas Stars is getting Mika Ranson today. Pretty big arms.

race that happened in the Western Conference. Actually, Minnesota and Colorado tied for third, but Minnesota does have the game in hand on the avalanche, but still Minnesota is going to be in the playoffs. The wild, pretty banged up right now. This is still a deep team, but no Caprisov. He's on IR. Joel Erickson is on IR. Yonis Brodine is out. Goaltender-wise, they have Philip Guston, of course, and Mark Andre Fleury. What's going to be funny to see if they do give that start to Flurry, Pat, one last hurrah. I know he had his moment in Pittsburgh, but I'm still curious to for the final game, at least between Flurry and his former team, do they give him the start? Like, that's going to be interesting.

But forward-wise, they're still deep. Marco Rossi's their top line center. He's been fantastic. Matt Boldie's having another great year. Matt Zugarello is an ageless wonder. He's kind of like a little mini Joe Pavelski with how productive he still is in the NHL. He's always so fun to watch, man.

And you got, you know, Ryan Hartman's on their third line. Marcus Villano is there. Marcus Johansson is having, you know, a fine year. Brock Faber, one of the best young defensemen in the league. He's fantastic. Jared Spurgeon's awesome. They saw Jacob Middleton there. This is a team back in score, but they know how to shut it down as well.

You know, the wild, especially when they have their shutdown D in their lineup, they are so good usually at suppressing chances. And they are far better than I thought, I mean, definitely that I thought they would be this year. I kind of had them as a team that would be on the playoff bubble, didn't expect them to be pushing for top three in the central after how last season went. But the Penguins will at least be avoiding them without Capri Soff without Eric's Neck. However, this is still going to be, again, another really tough game. Yeah, Bill Garon's done a really good job with this Minnesota Wild team. You have to like a lot of the work he did. And I was right there

with you. I didn't look at the Wild as a, I don't want to say a serious team in the West. I thought they'd be fine enough. But after the big buyouts, I figured that they were going to be stuck in such cap hell that they weren't going to be able to really do much. And Garin has been extremely savvy putting together a very good, very balanced roster. Because like you said, this is a team that can play both ways. It's not like the Minnesota Wilde of the 2000s and 2010s where they're almost like the New Jersey devil light of the 2000s, where they're mostly a defensive, pack it in, suppress chances, hit you on the counter.

kind of team. This is a team that has a ton of good offensive talent, but a lot of players who can play a good 200 foot game. And yeah, I would love one last hurrah for Mark Andre Fleury to play against his former team, a bunch of his buddies. And just,

you know what, because we know this team is in sort of kind of tank mode, go ahead and shut us out, Flurry. One last time. Blank this team. I'm not going to go that far. Sorry.

I can't sit. I can't sit here and say that. I know I'm anti-tanking, but you know what? I will take that stance away for one game just to see one of the legends of the Pittsburgh Penguins shut out his former team. See, I love Mark Andre Fleury. I always will. I want the opposite chaotic mode, Pat.

Light him up for five or six. Come on. Who cares? Light them up either. I'm not going to complain if either happen. I don't want him to shut out the penguins, obviously. but I will say this. It would be cool, but I'm not going to root for it.

I'm rooting for the other chaotic notion where I want them to light him up for five to six goals if he starts on Sunday against the Penguins. But do you have anything else to add about these two games, the moves that Kyle Dubus made before we send everyone into the weekend here? I thought it was a good day. I really do. I know that people will be disappointed about a lack of trade for Ricard Raquel or a lack of trade for Matt Grislich.

But when you look at everything that this team wants to do, the plan Kyle Dubus is putting into place. I think this is mission accomplished. If I put a letter grade on it, I'm going to give him a B for today. I thought there was obviously something. I was hoping there was something out there for Grizzlic. Maybe you get lucky and get a King's ransom for Ricard Raquel, but I have always been in the camp of I think he gets traded in the summer.

So overall, you look at what went out. You look at what's come in and you look at everything that they've done since the Jake Genzel trade. I've got a lot of confidence so far. Now the next step begins. You have to draft well. You have to package these picks together for good young players. And as I always say about Kyle Dubus, this will be my final thought on the day. He may not always win trades, but he never loses them. I know you've said that quite a bit on a lot of our episodes. He did just say to the Penguins media, he doesn't want this process to take any longer than it has to. And he says he does not want the standard and the core ideology to erode.

And I feel like that is a great statement. You don't want all of that losing to really steep in your organization. Because it takes a long time to get rid of it. That's why he's doing this. What? Hey, Kyle. Thanks for listening to Locked on Penguins because that sounds an awful lot like something co-host Patrick Damp once said.

I think he definitely listened to what you had to say. But again, losing, it takes a long time to get rid of if you let it creep in and just kind of stay there for a while. So I like that he had that quote. And I'll keep saying it on this show. I think the time for them to really start making another push to the playoffs, it's not going to be next season. I think it's going to be the season after that, 26, 27, when Malkin retires, they have a need for a second line center. And they have a boatload of cap space and a lot of picks to work with to make free agency signings.

and a bunch of trades. Scrosby will still be on the team at that point, by the way, as well. So I wanted to really finish off with that quote because it really resonated with me. And I feel like, again, it was really good that he said that during his presser. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. I know it was a long one, 38 minutes right now. But we had to discuss everything that happened today, get you all set for these two games this weekend. It is a lot.

But hey, thank you guys so much for tuning in this week. We really appreciate it. and hopefully we'll have Jesse Marshall on the show on Monday for our Marshall Monday to get his thoughts on the trade deadline from Kyle Dubus and what he did and get his thoughts on the two games from this weekend as well. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it.

We'll be back on Monday.